Tom Goldtooth – What happens if the pipeline get’s completed? “It’s not going to get built.” Is this resistance movement something that can move to another fossil fuel fight? “The resistance will continue. We’re taking on all fossil fuel development and extraction on indigenous land and we will continue to address the issue of the market system around fossil fuels. There’s still a lot of issues with hydraulic fracking that’s happening in the Bakken Oil Field too. There has to be many fronts as far as shutting down this whole Bakken Oil Field production. That’s what it is, that’s what flows through the pipeline. There’s the issue around corporate accountability, around the market, and right now the markets down in the Bakken Oil Field and there’s really no solid prediction about whether it’s going to recover or not. So if we continue to put pressure on the market system and start to life up reliable clean energy as a viable alternative that’s one thing we will continue to campaign around. Part of the campaign is the issue around climate justice. The Missouri River, as far as long term projection of 50-100 years, the water level will go down. The glaciers are melting and they are the source of the Missouri River. When these municipalities and state governments start to look at the reality of the serious impact of the climate crisis, they will have to look at alternatives. The continuation of business as usual with the drilling and extraction and burning of fossil fuels is not a sustainable solution. Our participation here to try to halt the DAPL is part or our bigger campaign of keeping fossil fuels in ground. That will continue.” What affect will Donald Trump’s election have on you? “It does affect me and my family and our native people. He represents an old, outdated economic system that’s not sustainable. That economic system does not respect the living life cycles of Mother Earth. It’s an exploitative system built on the backs of people. It’s based upon unlimited growth. It puts economics before environment and protection of our water. He does not think highly of the rights of indigenous people. It’s going to be a long hard 4 years for us to defend who we are. We haven’t had any indication of his recognition and support of the rights of American Indian tribes and Alaska natives. One of the fundamental principles that we are putting forward is the right to prior and informed consent inn our relationship between our federally recognized tribes and the US Federal Government. Right now the existing policy is based upon consultation. There’s so many problems with consultation. For example, the failed policies here between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, DAPL, and the Army Corp of Engineers. The Army Corps of Engineers has failed in government to government policy around consultation. The tribe has continually requested that there would be adequate process that they would be input in the decision making for this pipeline and that was not done. Many of us who work on indigenous and native issues and we have put forward the need to strengthen the policy on consultation to a higher standard to be informed prior to any development and to have an arena of freedom to have dialogue that there be no coercion or pressure imposed by corporations or governments and that tribes be fully respected based on our sovereignty and self determination. We ask to be fully informed of any positive or negative impacts moving forward with development. We want the freedom to say no. They haven’t done a full environmental impact statement. I think that would have been the avenue to address the concerns of the tribe regarding negative impact to important cultural and historical sacred sites as well as addressing the environmental concerns to mitigate and clean up potential spill, ruptures and leaks on this fracked oil going through the pipe. That’s the basis of some of our concern.”